My Final Portfolio

http://svalant.weebly.com/

Nov. 19th Post

For this class we were required to read chapter ten on "Legal and Ethical Considerations for Writers". I found much of this section surprising but informative. Legal and ethical matters are important to consider when writing non-fiction pieces, so I think this section was entirely relevant to our works completed in this course. Before reading this section, I thought you could only get in trouble for plagiarizing. However, this chapter revealed to me that there is a lot more to writing and publishing than I thought. Some of the sections I found to be much like common sense, which was even reinforced in the final paragraph. I found the paragraphs about quoting individuals particularly helpful, because I often wondered how to correctly quote my interviewees. Many of the sections gave specific names and terms for ideas I was already aware of.

Talk of the Town Piece

I have a few ideas for my Talk of the Town Piece that I would like to narrow down. The one I am most interested in is writing about the children's center in Burnell, and it's functions. I am an Elementary Education major, so this idea most interests me because I have always wondered what goes on in the center. I did a little research on the topic and it seems interesting to me, but the issue I am having is I am not sure whether or not this topic would be interesting to a large enough audience. I was also looking into writing my piece about a scheduled Salem Bus trip for students, and different trips and opportunities for commuting students. I think commuters tend to be less informed about campus activities because they generally spend less time on campus so this could be a good focus for my piece.

Book Club # 2

For this book club my group was required to read up to page 142 in "The Working Poor:Invisible in America" by David Shipler. These few chapters focused a lot of attention on immigrants working in the United States, and people who are just entering the job force after coming off welfare. Shipler uses characterization to contrast individuals and their point of views. I found it interesting how Shipler contrasted different employers, and their views on hiring ex convicts and ex welfare recipients. Shipler illustrates the opposing perspectives on how to deal with these individuals. Shipler gives us a lesson in psychology when explaining how these people function, and reveals their true inner securities that are not usually visible to the public. Many statistics are included in these chapters demonstrating just how poorly illegal immigrants are paid, similarly demonstrating the poor living conditions they endure. However, Shipler explains in numbers and facts how this income well succeeds anything they could be making in countries such as Mexico. Dialogue and quotations from several individuals gives the piece an personal aspect. The informal dialogue quoted from the illegal immigrants and welfare recipients highlights their limited understanding of the English language. Overall I think the writing is creatively written, and I enjoy his ability to connect these seemingly different charcaters into on fluent piece of writing.

Book Club Post 1

For my book club project I am reading "The Working Poor: Invisible in America" by David Shipler. So far this book has touched upon the issue of poverty as universal, affecting people of all different races, genders, and locations across the United States. The story focuses on those individuals who live right above the U.S. government's poverty line, which they wrongfully give a specific monetary income value. However, this number leaves out many individuals who are equally in need of assistance, due to their varying personal situations. I think this book sends an important message that many young people are unaware of, tying into the "Invisible in America" part of the title. Shipler places a face to these heartbreaking and inspiring stories, making the issue of poverty more understandable. I truly admire many of the individuals in this piece, because they remain strong, even when the odds are against them. It is important to refer to them as individuals and not characters, because Shipler specified that none of these people or stories were fabricated. I appreciated Shipler's use of details and imagery in his scenes. I think this employment of visual imagery helped Shipler's characters become more real and relate-able to the reader. I am looking forward to continuing to read this story, because growing up in the city, poverty has always been an issue on my mind.

9/20/10

 I found the chapters we read the first night of class very interesting, and helpful in developing my writing. I think that the order of the chapters relates to how important each element of writing is, which would rationalize why transaction was the first chapter. After reading each chapter, transaction seems like the most significant element of writing, so it is fitting that the author decides to begin with this chapter. Although all of the elements listed are important to a piece of writing transaction defines the quality of the entire piece. I think every chapter covers specific things to remember when writing, but also gives examples of how the elements such as simplicity, style, unity and words can be used effectively to improve writing. Each chapter also supplies the reader with examples of writing that could benefit from employing these devices. I found the chapter on unity the most helpful, because I think that is the area which my writing lacks. I found it interesting that there are different types of unity in a piece of writing, such as unity of pronoun, mood and tense. Prior to reading this chapter I thought unity had to do with the overall flow of the story, but this chapter broke it down into several smaller pieces. I think this approach can help me improve my writing, because it offers several smaller aspects of writing to focus on. This makes it easier to understand what exactly to look for when building strong unity in a piece of writing.